Protective device for clothespresses



Nov. 28. 1939. J. N. COULTER ET AL PROTECTIVE DEVICE FOR CLOTHESPRESSESFiled Sept. 8, 1937 n u. N U 0S0 C W N/ W N I w o ATTORNEY Patented Nov.28, 1939 PATENT OFFICE PROTECTIVE DEVICE FOR CLOTHE SPRESSE-S JonathanN. Goulter and Bert Williams, Los Angeles, Calif., assignors to KathleenA. Averill,

Los Angeles, Calif.

Application September 8, 1937, Serial No. 162,883

6 Claims.

This invention relates to a protective device for clothes pressingmachines. The object of the invention is to provide means for protectingthe 1 operator of steam clothespressing machines from escaping steam,without interfering with the normal operation of the machine.

This object is attained by the mechanism illus trated in theaccompanying drawing, in which: 1 .Fig. l is a perspective View of oneform of the protective device of this invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevation, partly in section, showing details of the formshown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an end elevation of a clothes pressing machine in openposition, equipped with this protective device;

' Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the same;

Fig. 5 is an end elevation similar to Fig. 3, with the machine in closedposition. 1

The invention consists of a movable fabric curtain which, by themovement of a reciprocable pressing member'of the machine, is interposedin front of the pressing members when they are brought together, and ismoved out of the way when they are separated. In the preferred em- I 25bodiment of the invention, the fabric curtain is raised and lowered byrolling it upon a roller, which is rotated by any suitable meansassociated with the up and down movement of the reciprocable member. Ina preferred form which is shown in the drawing, a rack and pinion deviceis used to rotate the curtain roller, but other equivalent means foraccomplishing the same result may be employed.

' Referring to the drawing, a preferred form of 35' the inventionconsists of a frame H having bearing supporting arms I2 and i3, bearings14 and [5, a shaft or roller 16 mounted in the bearings,

and. a fabric curtain 32 attached for rolling on the roller I6. Endwisemovement of the shaft or roller I6 is controlled by the adjusting screwH. with its lock nut 18 and the collar 20 with set screw 2|. On anextension 22 of the roller shaft from one bearing, I5, is attached apinion 23 having teeth'24 which is adapted to engage the rack 25supported in a channel member 26.

The rack 25 is held in mesh with the pinion 23 by the compression spring21 placed around the spring shaft 28 which is slidably supported in thecollar 29 held by the U-shaped member 30 whose two arms are rotatablyengaged on the shaft extension 22 and posititoned on the shaft extensionby the collar means 3|. The channel member 26 is attachable in hingedrelation by the hinge 36 to a relatively fixed portion of the machineand having the general characteristics indicated. In

general the pressing machine consists of a main frame 40, a work table41, a stationary pressing member 42, a movable pressing member 43pivotably supported at 44 on an upright member 45 of the main frame,having a counterweight 46 and a handle 41 for moving the member 43 upand down. Levers for controlling the pressure between the pressingmembers, for steam and for vacuum control etc., are represented,conventionally at 48 and 49. The movable pressing member 43 is providedwith a foraminous cover on its working or under surface, usually of finewire mesh, and pipe connections for delivery of wet steam to the hollowhead so that the steam may be blown, when desired, through the wire meshonto the garment being pressed. Usually the garment is arranged on thelower buck, the movable member is lowered into contact with the garment,wet steam is blown on the garment to moisten it, after which the steamis shut off and the pressing operation completed by increasing thepressureby means of a foot lever, and sometimes by the application ofsuction to the surface of the hollow stationary pressing member wherebythe moisture is removed, leaving a pressed dry cloth surface.

When the garments between the pressing members are subjected to the wetsteam as above described, the steam, at least in part, escapes aroundthe edges between the pressing members, and part of this comes incontact with the operators hands, face and body, and is dangerous, anddisagreeable. Our device prevents this unsatisfactory working conditionby automatically interposing a protective curtain 32 between theoperator and the pressing members.

As shown in the drawing, our device is adapted to be attached tomachines already built and in operation, and for this purpose theU-clamps 50 may be used to attach the device to the brackets 5| of thehandle 41. Other attaching means may of course be used, includingbolting or fastening to the movablemember 43.

When the pressing members are apart, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, thecurtain 32 is nearly completely rolled up on the roller IS, a smallportion being held in hanging position by the weighted rod 33. In thisposition, the rack 25 on the pinion 23 is near its uppermost end. Theopposite end of the rack, or of the channel member 26 supporting therack 25 is attached to the rear side of the work table 4! by the hingemember 36. After the clothes have been arranged on the stationarypressing member 42, the operator pulls down the movable member 43 bymeans of the handle 4i; and the rack 25 rotates the pinion 23 and inturn the curtain roller [6 and the curtain 32 is unwound and takes theposition shown in Fig. 5. In this position of pressing members andcurtain, the wet steam is admitted to the clothes and any escaping steamis deflected by the curtain away from the operator. When the steam hasbeen shut 01f, and after the remaining steps of the pressing operationhave been completed, the movable member 53 is raised out of the way fromfurther adjustments on the stationary member of the garment beingpressed. Simultaneously with the raising of the movable member 43 by thehandle M, the rack 25 rotates the pinion 23 in the opposite directionand winds the curtain 32 on the roller it. At no time does the curtaininterfere with the operations of the pressing machine, and iteffectively deflects the escaping steam away from the operator.

While a rack and pinion mechanism has been shown for revolving theroller for the curtain, other equivalent means may be used such as cordand pulley, differential pulley, and the like.

While one particular preferred embodiment of the invention has beendescribed, other arrangements are possible, and the invention is to berestricted only insofar as is necessitated by the prior art and theappended claims.

We claim:

1. In a clothespressing machine having pressing members at least one ofwhich is oscillatable, a vertically hanging non-rigid steam-deflectingcurtain arranged to cut off the space between the pressing members fromthe operator when the pressing machine is closed or nearly closed, andmeans actuated by the oscillatable pressing member for putting saidcurtain between the machine and the operator when the pressing membersare brought together and for removing it when the pressing members areseparated.

2. In a clothespressing machine having a pressing member oscillatablymovable relative to the base of said machine, a vertically hangingnon-rigid steam-deflecting curtain arranged to be interposed between themachine and the operator thereof, a winding roller for said curtainmounted on the machine, and means actuated by said member to revolvesaid roller.

3. In a clothespressing machine having an oscillatable pressing member,a vertically hanging non-rigid steam-deflecting curtain arranged to beinterposed between the pressing members and the operator of saidmachine, a winding roller for said curtain mounted on said member, apinion on said roller, and means associated with a stationary part andthe oscillatable member of the machine adapted to revolve said pinionwhen said member is raised and lowered.

l. In a clothespressing machine having an oscillatable pressing member,a vertically hanging non-rigid steam-deflecting curtain arranged to beinterposed between the machine and the operator thereof, a windingroller for said curtain mounted on said pressing member, a pinion onsaid roller, and a rack hingedly attached to said machine adapted torotate said pinion whereby to raise the curtain when said member israised, and to lower the curtain when said member is lowered.

5. In a clothespressing machine having an oscillatable pressing member,a vertically hanging non-rigid steam-deflecting curtain arranged to beinterposed between the machine and the operator, a Winding roller forsaid curtain mounted on said member, a pinion gear on said roller, arack, a hinge means between said rack and said machine, said rack andpinion adapted to wind and unwind the curtain when the reciprocablemember is raised and lowered.

6. A safety device for attachment to a clothespressing machine having anoscillatable pressing member, comprising shaft, bearings for said shaft,bracket means for supporting said bearings, a hanging fabric curtainattached to said shaft for winding thereon, a pinion gear on said shaft,a rack bar having rack teeth at one end adapted to engage the teeth ofthe pinion gear and having hinged attaching means at the other end forattachment to a fixed part of the pressing machine, a sliding guidemember for said rack bar, a U-shaped member rotatably attached on theend of the shaft adjacent said pinion gear, spring means between saidU-shaped memher and said sliding guide member for holding the rack teethof said rack bar in operative position on said pinion gear and adaptedto allow sliding contact between said rack bar and said guide, and meansfor attachment of the bracket means to the said oscillatable pressingmember of said machine.

JONATHAN N. COULTER. BERT WILLIAMS.

